Reading corpus versus invested on the SIP result card
The SIP result has four lines that people mix up. Expected value is the corpus at the rate you typed. Total invested is the cash the SIP debits. Estimated returns are the difference. The wealth multiple is the corpus divided by the cash. Changing the rate moves the corpus and the returns. It does not move the invested line, as long as the instalment and the years stay put. The rates below are assumptions.
Last updated: · 4 min read
₹10,000 a month for 15 years
Bar chart of ₹18 lakh invested, about ₹34.83 lakh at an assumed 8%, and about ₹50.46 lakh at an assumed 12%.
- Total invested₹18 lakh
- Expected value at 8%₹34.83 lakh
- Expected value at 12%₹50.46 lakh
Invested is a count of debits
₹10,000 × 12 × 15 is ₹18,00,000. The SIP calculator will show that as total invested whether you type 8% or 12%. It is the promise, not the market. If a month is skipped, the real invested amount is lower, and the screen will not know unless you shorten the tenure or lower the instalment.
People read ₹18,00,000 as a gain, or as the amount they can take out. It is neither. It is what left the bank. The gain, if the assumption holds, is the estimated returns line.
Corpus and returns move together
At an assumed 8%, the expected value is about ₹34,83,451, so estimated returns are about ₹16,83,451. At 10%, the value is about ₹41,79,243 and the returns about ₹23,79,243. At 12%, the value is about ₹50,45,760 and the returns about ₹32,45,760. Each time, returns equal value minus ₹18,00,000.
The wealth multiple is value divided by invested. At 8% it is about 1.94. At 12% it is about 2.80. A higher multiple means you typed a higher rate or a longer tenure. It is not a feature of the fund you have not chosen yet.
- Invested, all three rates: ₹18,00,000.
- Returns at 8%, 10% and 12%: about ₹16.83 lakh, ₹23.79 lakh and ₹32.46 lakh.
- Those returns are inside the expected value. They are not a second pot.
Nothing on the card is after tax, or in today's rupees
The card does not subtract tax when units are sold. It does not inflate the goal. A corpus of ₹41,79,243 in 15 years is a future rupee figure at a rate you hoped for. Spending power is a different question, and this screen is not answering it.
The chart under the card stacks invested and returns so they add up to the value. That stack is the assumption drawn as areas. If you change only the rate, watch the invested area stay the same width of cash and the returns area grow. That is the whole lesson of the card.
Which line to use for a decision
Use total invested to ask whether the debit fits. Use the last instalment, on a step-up, for the same question in the final year. Use expected value only beside a goal, and only at a rate you will still accept if markets are dull. Use estimated returns when you want to see how much of the corpus was never your cash.
If two scenarios show the same invested line and different values, the difference is entirely the rate. It is not evidence that one fund paid more. You have not picked the fund on this page.
Worked example: one SIP, three rates
₹10,000 at the start of each month for 15 years. Only the annual rate changes. Invested stays ₹18,00,000.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total invested | ₹18,00,000 at 8%, 10% and 12% |
| Expected value at 8% | About ₹34,83,451 |
| Estimated returns at 8% | About ₹16,83,451 |
| Expected value at 10% | About ₹41,79,243 |
| Estimated returns at 10% | About ₹23,79,243 |
| Expected value at 12% | About ₹50,45,760, returns about ₹32,45,760 |
Open the SIP calculator at ₹10,000, 15 years and 8%. Note total invested and expected value. Change the rate to 12% and check that invested is still ₹18,00,000. The entire increase in the corpus is estimated returns, which exist only at the rate you typed.
Sources
Results from FinanceChacha are estimates for planning, not financial or tax advice. Read the disclaimer.
Try the calculator
Open the calculator this guide refers to and run your own numbers.